BLOOMBERG -- Noncitizen voting isn’t as radical as it might sound. For more than half of U.S. history, from 1776 until the 1920s, noncitizens were widely permitted to participate in elections.
“We had 40 states that used to allow it,” says Ron Hayduk, an associate professor of Political Science at San Francisco State University. “Immigrants could vote, not just in local elections,” he says. “They could even run for office — and did win office.” The hope, Hayduk says, was that immigrants would feel more invested in civic life if they were able to participate in American democracy.